Fancy a Pre-Match Poser?
Who completed a unique hat-trick at the 2010 World Cup, over a decade in the making, that not even Ferenc Puskas himself achieved? And it wasn’t Gonzalo Higuain…
We'll reveal the answer this time next week in the next edition of The Pre-Match Poser – stay tuned for that – but for now, here's the answer to last week's conundrum…
Q. They’ve only been to one World Cup final – they were on the winning side – and completed the grand slam of Europe’s top five leagues with Manchester City in 2021. Who are we talking about?
A. Kit manufacturer, Puma, who supplied the shirts for Italy in 2006. After Puma ‘won’ La Liga with Atletico Madrid in 1996, Serie A with Lazio in 2000, the Bundesliga with Stuttgart in 2007 and Ligue 1 with Bordeaux in 2009, they completed a set of having supplied kits to winning clubs in Europe’s top five leagues when Manchester City won the 2020/21 Premier League in shirts designed by the German brand.
More football quizzes we know you'll love
So you controlled that one and stopped it stone-dead: we're impressed. But have you got more in the tank? We've got quizzes for millennials, African football aficionados and shirt fiends, so if you've got more, so have we – courtesy, as ever, of Kwizly.
First off, we want you to trace the shifting power of an era by naming the clubs and players who won trophies in the 2000s, a task that rewards those who remember the giants of the early millennium as vividly as the modern heavyweights. Once you’ve tallied the trophies, dive into the fire of the Clasico to see if you can name every scorer in El Clasico since 2000. It's a trial of historical precision and big-game pedigree that distinguishes the genuine scholars from the casual highlight-watchers.
If your expertise is more about the fabric of the clubs or the global explorers who conquered the English top flight, we have two formidable hurdles waiting in the tunnel. You can put your visual scouting network to the test by naming which teams wore these 50 shirts, a challenge that requires an eagle eye for retro patterns and iconic kit sponsors. Following that, prove your knowledge of Premier League longevity by naming every African nation's record appearance holder in the Premier League. From the fabric of the 90s to the durable stars who put their home countries on the map, it’s time to see if your footballing IQ remains elite when the scope is truly global.
To decompress after that heavy lifting, find a quiet spot for FourFourTwo’s Weekend Crossword 59, featuring a nostalgic mix of 80s heroes, midfield maestros, and non-FIFA nations. To ensure you’re always the first to the team news, join our newsletter and The Club, our free membership hub that serves as your digital dugout. Joining allows you to unlock secret hints for quizzes, fight for the number one spot on our global leaderboards, join the tactical debate in our comments section, and get the inside track via exclusive Q&As.
